Medicare Hospital Home Care Discharges by DRG Report Tutorial A
HOW TO USE OUR DATA
Outlined in the chart below are analytical observations derived from reviewing the sample Medicare Hospital Home Care Report and the implication and/or actions to take on the next sales call with your hospital prospect. Click on Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2, Exhibit 3 to view the highlighted report. The Exhibits will open in a new window so you can view them together with the chart below.
Download a sample report now and decide which key account could benefit most from this information.
Statistical support for the observations can be found below the chart.
| Exhibit/Observation | Implication/Actions |
| Exhibit 1 – Hospital refers less to home care than region and state averages(A) | Opportunity to “grow the pie”, instead of “fighting for share”. Discuss with prospect reasons for suboptimal performance |
| Exhibit 1 – Hospital has length of stay problem and could benefit from earlier discharge to home care(B) | Discuss with prospect reasons for length of stay problems and focus on key DRG’s or disease types. Ask if identifying patients earlier for home care would help |
| Exhibit 2 – Discharge planner who covers respiratory and cardiac units is responsible for 41% of discharges to home care(C) | Calculate referral share of your agency with this key individual and focus sales efforts on these types of patients with possibly, a specialty program |
| Exhibit 2 – Referrals to home care could grow by 42%, when compared to best practices(D) | Target key DRG’s with greatest potential to grow. Work with prospect to understand current discharge preferences |
| Exhibit 3 – Hospital is 45% more likely to refer to facility(rehab, SNF, etc) upon discharge than region average and less likely to community(self-care).(E) | Appears to be doing a good job of minimizing risk of re-admission by discharging fewer patients to self-care. May have bias towards in-house sub-acute unit. |
| Exhibit 3 – Hospital has higher percentage of frail elderly, which should require more referrals to home care than other hospitals in the region. (F) | Patient mix does not account for underperformance in home care referral rate, as noted on Exhibit 1. Probe on rationale for preference towards skilled nursing facilities as discharge setting. |
STATISTICAL SUPPORT FOR OBSERVATIONS
A. TOTAL Discharge Rate to Home Care for “Chosen Hospital” – 15.8%
TOTAL Discharge Rate to Home Care for “Region” – 17.7%
TOTAL Discharge Rate to Home Care for “State” – 18.1%
B. TOTAL Actual Length of Stay(LOS) for “Chosen Hospital” – 8.5 days
TOTAL Expected Length of Stay(LOS) for “Chosen Hospital” – 5.7 days
(Expected length of stay is based on Medicare national statistics)
C. # of Discharges of Patients with Respiratory Diseases – 129
# of Discharges of Patients with Respiratory Diseases – +187
41% of TOTAL Discharges to Home Care of 766 : 129+187= 306
D. TOTAL Discharge Rate to Home Care for “Chosen Hospital” – 15.8%
TOTAL Discharge Rate to Home Care for “Top Performers” – 26.5%
(Top Performers rate is median discharge rate of top 10% hospitals nationally)
E. TOTAL Discharge Rate to Community for “Chosen Hospital” – 32.0%
TOTAL Discharge Rate to Community for “Region” – 45.1%
TOTAL Discharge Rate to Facility for “Chosen Hospital” – 38.0%
TOTAL Discharge Rate to Facility for “Region” – 25.9%
F. TOTAL Percentage of Frail/Elderly for “Chosen Hospital” – 28.4%
TOTAL Percentage of Frail/Elderly for “Region” – 25.2%
(National data show Frail/Elderly use home care more frequently)